PLO official: Israel took advantage of the Corona crisis to create four outposts

Walid Assaf, head of the PLO Resistance and Wall Resistance Authority, said that Israel is using the global preoccupation with the Corona Virus pandemic and the state of emergency declared by the Palestinian Presidency to establish four new outposts in the West Bank.

Al-Assaf explained - in a statement to Anadolu Agency - that the Israeli government and the Civil Administration (the arm of the occupation in the West Bank) took advantage of the state of emergency in the world to face the Corona pandemic, and accelerated the demolitions of Palestinian homes, distributed notices of the claim of construction without a permit, and the seizure of land by the authorities Occupation and settlers.

Al-Assaf confirmed that the settlers established a new outpost in the Bethlehem Governorate (south of the West Bank), another in the Jordan Valley (northeast), and two near the town of Mughair (east of Ramallah).

In the Al-Aghwar area, settlers took control of large areas of Palestinian lands, and planted them with crops under the protection of the occupation army. The head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority indicated that construction is continuing in all settlements.

fact
Assaf believes that Tel Aviv is trying to use the current conditions of the Corona crisis in order to impose facts on the ground, and to annex the West Bank in accordance with the Israeli government's plan and the peace plan announced by the US administration. And last February, an American-Israeli team began to map out parts of the West Bank under the US plan.

On January 28, US President Donald Trump unveiled his administration's plan to bring peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, and was met with strong opposition to the Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and internationals, while Israel strongly praised them.

In the context of increasing settlement activity, Anatolia Agency quoted the mayor of Mugheer village (central West Bank), Amin Abu Alia, that these days extensive sweeping of the lands of the village and neighboring towns by settlers is under the protection of the occupation army, new roads have been opened, settlement units have been built and constructed New focus.

Resident population
Al-Mughair residents are trying to counter these plans by setting up tents and sit-in there for weeks to protect their lands from settlement expansion, but with the Palestinian presidency declaring a state of emergency due to the Corona virus, sitters were forced to leave the tents for fear of contracting the virus.

The League of Arab States last Tuesday warned Israel against using the Corona crisis to annex new Palestinian lands and expand settlement outposts.

And the Israeli "Peace Now" movement says that since Tel Aviv occupied the West Bank in 1967, it has built 132 settlements and 121 outposts in which 427,000 Jews reside.